Originally published November 3 2003
FTC Concludes Do Not Email List A Bad Idea
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
I appreciate the FTC's talk on spam: it's straightfoward, honest, and absent any spin. The FTC knows it will carry a lot of burden in tracking down and prosecuting spammers. It also knows, as its director has publicly stated, that the do-not-email list idea is rather useless in the battle against spam.
Why? Because spammers conceal their identities. And if you can't figure out who the spammer is, you certainly can't slap them with a fine for not using the do-not-email list. Kinda seems easy to understand, doesn't it?
With or without the do-not-email list idea, and even aided by recent federal legislation, fighting spam is going to be a real pain, even when you've got the powers of the FTC backing you up.
What the FTC needs is to do is make an example of some individual or business caught violating the accepted rules of permission email marketing. They need to catch someone and throw the book at them. The public will support it, too, because the anti-spam rhetoric has grown to fever pitch (aided by my own feverish cries, I admit), to the point where a public caning of a couple of spammers seems rather justified.
The first spammer to get nailed by the FTC is going to sorely wish they had taken up another line of business altogether. But if the sound of prison bars slamming down on the first few spammers is loud enough, then perhaps the other spammers will get the message.
Analysis: Even with strong legislation, enforcing anti-spam legislation presents a tremendous hurdle. Expect the FTC to set an example in their very first case by coming down hard on some unsuspecting spammer.
The Federal Trade Commission told legislators yesterday that a federal
spam law should first aim to solve the problem of anonymity for mass
e-mailers.
In testimony before the House of Representatives, the FTC said it has
brought 55 spam cases, and the key to all of them has been establishing
the identity of the defendants.
"The commission's experience shows that the primary law enforcement
challenges are to identify and locate the targeted spammer," said J.
Howard Beales III, director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection,
in testimony to the Small Business Committee.
Hopes dimmed from earlier in the week that House Speaker Dennis
Hastert, R-IL, would quickly bring the Senate bill to the floor for a
vote.
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